CHAPTER 335: ROOM 203, CURSED ROOM - 'NEW BEGINNING' RE (15)

0% – Park Seungyub

It was dark and stuffy.

The space itself wasn’t narrow, but there were many complex machines hindering movement all around, and I had become much larger because I was wearing the Protective Suit.

– Clank!

“Ah!”

“Be careful. Just stay still.”

“Ye~es...”

Ahri-noona, whom I had reunited with after hundreds of years, was no different from before. Of course, it would be stranger if she had changed much since she was just sleeping.

Finally, a strange metallic sound came from the machine Noona was operating, and an image started to appear on the wall. It must have been some kind of beam projector machine.

The video started like this.

“I thought about the moment of destruction.

“Since the subject of thought is not human, the word ‘replay’ might be more appropriate than ‘thought’.

“...

“...

“...”

After the video ended, Noona quietly fell into thought.

“Noona.”

“...”

“Ahri-noona. I have something I’m curious about—“

“Sorry, but let me ask first. I need to organize my thoughts.”

“Okay.”

“From what I’ve heard, 322 years have passed since waking up from cryosleep?”

“I’m hearing the number 322 years for the first time. Has that much time passed?”

“If the AI’s records are accurate, yes. After waking up, you joined the city-state Sanghyun built and came back to the mountain range with help. Start from there again.”

“As soon as we entered the mountain range, robots appeared! The moment they aimed shells bigger than my head at me, my instinct sensing danger—“

“You used Heaven’s Luck, right?”

“...Yes.”

“Skip that part. It’s probably not even a funny story, anyway.”

“The shell fell behind me, but I was blown away by its shockwave. After repeating something like this about three times, I arrived at the spaceship.”

“That’s even more incredible than I thought. Anyway, Heaven’s Luck ended when you arrived at the spaceship? Start from there.”

“When I entered, the robots no longer fired shells.”

“That’s probably because I would die or wake up if they damaged the spaceship by shooting such things.”

“At some point, Perro suddenly started leading me. I think it sensed your location. Then we found a gap leading underground.”

“Go on.”

“As we were moving, Perro suddenly stopped behind a huge wall. At that moment! My instinct told me you were behind this.”

“How did you get past that wall?”

“I tried punching with the power of the Protective Suit, but it didn’t work at all. So I didn’t know what to do, but then I heard a strange sound.”

“A strange sound?”

“The sound of metal shaking and rubbing? A screeching sound? When I got closer, there was this trace.”

I stretched out my hand and pointed to the hole in the wall I had come through. Noona examined that part closely.

“Then what, when I came in, there was something like a capsule where you were sleeping, right?”

“You did well. And good job.”

Suddenly, Noona lightly hugged my head.

“Uwah!”

“You’re not an elementary school student, why are you surprised just because I hugged you a little?”

“No! To hug me while I’m wearing the Protective Suit! Wait a moment, I’ll take it off so once more—“

“Stop talking nonsense and sit down again.”

“...Okay.”

Noona continued to pace around, as if lost in thought. Thinking of the doctor waiting outside, I felt urgent.

“Noona! Shouldn’t we go out now? The doctor must be waiting outside!”

“If he’s waited for over 300 years, what’s another hour or two?”

“...”

T-that’s just too much now!

For a moment, I almost understood Kain-hyung’s feeling of wanting to body check Ahri-noona sometimes.

“Above all, there are many records left by the AI in this place. Since it’s a place that’s hard to enter again, we need to check everything.”

“...Please say that from the beginning.”

Suddenly, Noona looked at me intently.

“Noona?”

“It doesn’t seem to be this one.”

“What?”

“Nothing. More importantly, didn’t you say you had something to ask me?”

“Ah, while watching the video left by the AI earlier, I didn’t understand the latter part. It said the AI found a logical flaw in the malevolent god’s proposal and left an act of rebellion, what does that mean?”

“This record itself.”

“What?”

“The record itself that everything in this room was created from beginning to end under Adravita’s design is the rebellion.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“The Convict ordered the AI to ‘forget today’s events and never remember them.’ The AI separated that day’s records from the database and then processed it so that the AI itself couldn’t access it.”

I understood now. Since the AI itself couldn’t access that data, it had forgotten that day’s events and could never remember them, as instructed.

But that data hadn’t disappeared!

“The data hasn’t disappeared. The AI just can’t access it, but of course someone with higher authority than the AI can access it. Like me.”

With those words, Noona fell silent again. This silence was very long.

“Um...”

“Seungyub.”

“Yes?”

“Should we just escape at this point?”

“W-what? Suddenly!”

Can we escape right away?

“What do you think is the escape condition for Room 203? Recall the first escape and the second escape.”

“In the first escape, Eunsol-noona and Songee-noona, who had moved far in the opposite direction of the mountain range, suddenly—“

“The timing was similar to when the people who went to the mountain range fought fiercely with the AI borrowing my body, right?”

“That’s true, but...”

“The second escape happened as soon as Miro killed the me summoned by the Time Borrower. It was even a full party escape. What’s the common point? Both times, a critical hit was dealt to the AI, right?”

“That’s right.”

“What is the being that directly threatens us in this room? The Convict who designed this hellish situation? No. The Convict is a being suffering from various restrictions since we woke up.”

“The AI is the direct threat in this room? Come to think of it, it was the AI that put us into cryosleep too.”

“Right. Either deal a big blow to the AI and create distance, or suddenly destroy the body the AI is dwelling in without prior preparation. In the end, dealing a critical hit to the AI is the escape condition. And...”

Noona silently raised her finger and pointed at the screen. There was a small notification on the screen.

“Captain Kim Ahri, do you want to shut down all functions of the Pride of Humanity?”

“If I press enter here once, the AI will stop forever.”

Doing that would make us escape Room 203.

“Escaping is a bit...”

“Regretful? Sanghyun suffered so much for hundreds of years, it feels a bit wrong to just end it with escape?”

“Am I being too immature...”

“No, I feel similar thoughts, too.”

“You too, Noona?”

Ahri-noona paced around for a while and then opened her mouth again, “Escape. Endure more for resolution. Which is right? There is a reason we should escape right away. We’re already in great danger.”

“Great danger?”

“I found out while examining the AI’s central control system, Han Kain, Cha Jinchul, and Elena, these three are already dead. Adravita’s minions invaded and destroyed the cryosleep facilities.”

“Aaah!”

“Be quiet.”

“W-why are they dead? The Convict killed them? Doesn’t this room disappear even if we die?”

“Only if everyone dies.”

“What?”

“Think from Adravita’s perspective. Us all dying is absolutely something that can’t happen, as you said. But is there a need to keep everyone alive?”

“Uh...”

“As long as we’re alive, we have a chance, too. Who knows what might happen if we endure for hundreds or thousands of years? Just look at you, you escaped with the power of an earthquake.”

“That was Heaven’s Luck—“

“Heaven’s Luck caused an earthquake? Isn’t that strange? You’ve used Heaven’s Luck several times before, but it’s never shown that level of power, right?”

“That’s true. I was surprised by that too.”

“Think simply. Didn’t the earthquake occur regardless of the Blessing? You might say how can an earthquake happen by chance, but if you’re in a specific area for hundreds of years, of course it can happen.”

“That’s true. They say there’s no earthquake-safe zone.”

Hearing this far, I seemed to understand why I woke up so late.

Even with the power of Heaven’s Luck, it couldn’t advance the timing of the earthquake.

Maybe Heaven’s Luck didn’t cause the earthquake, but made it so I could wake up safely in a naturally occurring earthquake?

“Like this, the fact that we’re alive is itself a variable. You’re proof of that.”

“That’s right.”

“Let’s go back to the Convict’s perspective. To Adravita, we are beings he can’t kill all of, but if he keeps everyone alive, variables will definitely occur.”

“So he killed the ‘dangerous participants’. Ahri-noona was kept alive because you’re the captain and needed for spaceship control in case of emergency?”

Kain-hyung, Jinchul-hyung, Elena-noona.

The Convict considered these three people too dangerous to keep alive and sent minions to kill them in their cryosleep state.

“...I was kept alive because I seemed weak to the Convict. Even though I used the First Human!”

I felt somewhat dejected for some reason. Noona, sensing that, smiled slightly.

“Are you sad because you’re alive?”

Of course not.

“Anyway, the survivors are you and me, Sanghyun outside, and Mooksung and Eunsol who are asleep. That’s five of us. With less than half our strength, the progression itself from now on is very dangerous.”

“Then should we escape?”

“There are reasons to try more, too.”

“What are they?”

“First, usually when we escape, we gather information and make new plans before coming back, right?”

“That’s right.”

“This room won’t be like that. I’m sure. In my view, if we escape like this, we’ll never return to Room 203.”

“Why?”

“It’s been revealed that escaping into space on the spaceship is the Convict’s trap. What’s the real solution? Isn’t it making a ‘new beginning’ with the primitive humans, like Sanghyun is doing now?”

“That’s what I think.”

“Who’s going to do that difficult task again next time?”

“...”

If the real solution was to raise civilization with the primitive humans like the doctor... Who on earth would want to do this difficult task?

Even I thought it was better to never return to such a crazy room.

“There’s an even more serious problem. As much as we develop, the Convict develops, too. The Convict of Room 203 is a madman like the Lord from Room 104.”

That was right.

Adravita was a being who actively designed the room, similar to the Lord. If we escape like this and come back again, the content of the room might be strangely twisted.

“So this escape isn’t a step back for two steps forward. It’s just giving up on the rewards we can get from Room 203 forever.”

“That’s right.”

“Second, I surprisingly think the resolution of this room is almost here.”

“Because the doctor has already raised civilization?”

“That’s it. Sanghyun has already passed the hardest part by working like crazy. I think only the finishing touches are left now.”

“Finishing touches?”

“Pushing away the obstacles to humanity’s new beginning. I’ll explain this part in detail when we meet Sanghyun later.”

“Okay.”

Noona fell silent again, and I organized the story I heard from her.

Currently, Ahri-noona could make the entire hotel party escape by shutting down all functions of the spaceship with her captain authority and annihilating the AI.

If we went out aiming for resolution instead of escape, we were giving up this convenient escape. Because it would be difficult to annihilate the AI from outside.

The reason to escape?

Because Kain-hyung, Jinchul-hyung, and Elena-noona died in their cryosleep state—thus, the remaining strength of the party was weak.

The reason to try more?

If we escaped like this, we were giving up the Inheritance of Room 203, and according to Noona’s view, we had already almost reached the resolution of the room.

Because the doctor had already handled the most difficult process.

Ahri-noona, who had been silent, suddenly turned towards me.

“Decide.”

“What?”

“Mindlessly!”

“What?”

“Don’t think, just choose! Trust the energy of the universe and pick!”

“Eiyah! Let’s try more!”

I didn’t think.

How could an answer come out if I pondered with my head on a difficult problem that even Noona, who was 10 times smarter than me, couldn’t conclude?

I chose with my heart, not my head. Humanely speaking, the doctor suffered for 300 years!

To end this incredibly hard-built tower with mere “escape”?

That wasn’t right.

Ahri-noona smiled slightly and looked at the ceiling.

“Right. Let’s do more. Let’s end this damn room, and maybe slice up and eat that delusional whale, too.”

Noona’s hand pointed towards the sky.

“Actually, there was a third reason we should try more.”

“What?”

“I think I know what one of the two Inheritances of this room is.”

“Inheritance?”

At that moment, Noona’s voice spread out as if carrying rhythm like a song.

“The Final Flash shall cleanse all. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” 1

And light arose.

The flash that arose from Noona’s fingertips pierced the heavens.

Neither the outer wall of the spaceship that flew across the universe, nor the rocks of the crimson mountain range that endured eons of time like flowing water...

Nothing could block the flash.

Finally, as all terrain features were pierced through, the blue sky was revealed. Eventually, the flash even vaporized the clouds in the sky.

My heart swelled.

Pure power, annihilation, the shock given by force came like a kind of emotion. With a feeling like I might cry, I looked at Noona—

“In the name of love and justice! I won’t forgive that whale!”

2

“...What kind of line is that?”

“Huh? You don’t know this? It’s from an anime that was popular in the past—“

“Body check!”

“Uwah!”

Today, I understood why Kain-hyung sometimes body checked Ahri-noona.

FOOTNOTES

1. TL Note: "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds," is a quote by Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.2. ED Note: Ahri is referencing Sailor Moon here